Voting in elections is a crucial part of democracy, and choosing who you want to represent your constituency and make decisions for the future of the island is important.

The General Election is only three weeks away, and we wanted to know what you think of the voting process and what topics would make you vote for a particular candidate.

Ciara Hardisty, 32, has voted before but believes that this year it doesn’t feel as tedious as it has done in the past.

She said: ’I know my mum always says, whoever she votes for never gets in.

’I think in the Isle of Man, they kind of vote for who they think is going to win, rather than what their credentials might be.

’I’m hoping with this current election that might change with younger people voting.

’I think now we’re seeing that your vote actually does have an effect on what happens and what happens in the future so hopefully people might start voting because of what the people stand for rather than popularity.’

Barbara and Richie Holland, from Peel, are still getting to grips with the island’s voting system, but they know what they would like to see from their MHKs.

Richie said: ’We’ve got issues that we would like to see sorted in Peel and that’s the sewage that’s going into the harbour.’

A wider issue concerning the Hollands was the high housing costs as Richie added: ’Our son and daughter are trying to get on the housing market, which is really hard for youngsters on the Isle of Man.

’The cost of renting is more than it would cost a young person for a mortgage - that’s stupid, absolutely stupid.’

Barbara added:’The thing is if people don’t vote then they can’t complain.

’They will still complain anyway, but you can’t really moan too much if you haven’t bothered to vote.’

Elsdon Watson of Douglas, has lived in the island for 20 years but hasn’t been able to vote for very long because of the registering process.

He said: ’I like to vote because I think it’s important that we get one.

’I used to be political when I was younger, but as I got older I got more and more cynical about it all.

’I’ve got three kids, I try and get them to engage and we’ve got two who are old enough to vote.

’I think they’ve got their own opinions of course but they are engaged and interested in the world around them.’

Richard Kinrade, 26, and Serena Herbison, 21, believe that it’s important that people of their generation are standing for election on September 23.

Richard said: ’I’m planning on voting, and it’s the first time I’ve voted.

’There’s people from my generation running this year, I know Kieran Hannifin is running for Middle. It’s really important that there’s a lot of people from our generation involved.’

Richard added that he thinks the environment should be one of the main topics debated by this year’s candidates adding: ’One candidate is doing a lot about the environment and environmental issues.’

Serena agreed, but can’t vote this year because she’s not lived here long enough.

She said: ’I don’t think I’m allowed to vote because I haven’t been here long enough.

’But I don’t really vote, not even in local elections. There’s just not enough talk about it, not for people my age at least.’